


Merry Christmas, Jean Kirschtein

by MadameRed



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Fluff, M/M, aw look, cute boyfriends at christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-10
Updated: 2013-12-10
Packaged: 2018-01-04 06:02:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1077435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadameRed/pseuds/MadameRed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jean, who has never really celebrated Christmas before, is treated to it properly by Marco's ugly-sweater-loving family. Fluff and warm fuzzies abound.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Merry Christmas, Jean Kirschtein

Jean noticed the difference in Marco immediately. At exactly midnight on December first, the freckled young man turned to his boyfriend of ten months and beamed at him. With a quick kiss on the cheek, he got up from their blanket nest on the couch and bounded into the kitchen. He poured them each a glass of eggnog and curled back under the blanket, grinning widely and whispering, " _Christmas_ ," like the giant, freckled dork that he was.

The Kirschtein family, despite being more than financially capable of decking their enormous halls with boughs of holly and then some, had never expressed overmuch interest in celebrating Christmas. Jean had never believed in Santa Claus. His gifts had been purchased, wrapped, and set in his bedroom (there was no Christmas tree) by his nanny, his parents' names written on the labels. He had no fun uncles to tell him stories of reindeer, no grandfathers to dress as Santa, no cousins or siblings to wait up with on Christmas Eve. 

Jean's lifetime disinterest in Christmas was not a learned or inherited thing from his parents. It was a form of protection, so that he would not be disappointed year after year. This didn't stop him, however, from holing away in his room with Elvis Presley's Christmas album and wishing for a real holiday celebration, just once in his life. His wish was granted in the form of a tall, freckled boy named Marco Bodt.

Jean and Marco met in mid-January, and by February they were an item. Jean's parents treated their son's relationship with the same polite disinterest with which they addressed every other aspect of his life. He considered himself lucky that his father even shook Marco's hand. Upon noticing Jean's distress at introducing him to his family, Marco took his hand and led him to his car, informing him that his parents and siblings were excited to meet him. Jean knew that Marco was the eldest child in a family with six other children. He had no idea how to even begin to act around a family that was as close as Marco's, and his nervousness showed as he bounced his leg in the car. Marco took one hand off the steering wheel and squeezed Jean's lightly.

Marco's mother, Carmen, was the first to greet them. They never actually used the front door of their house; Marco pulled up the driveway and led Jean into the house through a side door that emptied out into the kitchen. 

"Hijo," she greeted warmly, swooping down upon her eldest to kiss his cheeks. Carmen was a willowy, graceful Spanish woman. Her hair, long and dark, was bound in a loose braid and hung over her shoulder. Freckles, just like the ones Jean so adored on Marco, were sprinkled across her nose. "I wasn't expecting you home so early." Marco smiled and kissed his mother back, holding her hands in his.

"Mama, there's someone you should meet," he said. He looked back over his shoulder. "You gonna just freeze to death out there, Jean?" Carmen's eyes widened, a small smile spreading across her face.

"Jean?" She leaned around her son as Jean stepped into the kitchen somewhat shyly. "Your boyfriend?" She swept past Marco and delivered two swift kisses to either side of Jean's stunned face. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gazed up at him in fond approval. "Oh, Marco, he  _is_  handsome!" she exclaimed.

Biting back a laugh as Jean's face flooded with colour, Marco gently guided his mother away from his boyfriend. "Mama, I think you're embarrassing him." She reached out and patted Jean's arm gently.

"I am sorry if I made you uncomfortable," she apologized. "Marco has spoken very highly of you; it's like I already know you!" The colour in Jean's face receded only minimally, but he smiled sheepishly.

"It's fine, Mrs. Bodt; no harm, no foul," he answered. She was sashaying out of the kitchen, but she paused at the door frame.

"None of those honourifics, dear." She winked at him and flounced off. "Carmen or mama will work!" 

Jean flushed again, toying with the hem of his shirt. Marco leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, lingering by his lips.

"She adores you."

Marco's father was a tall, tan man of Italian descent called Lenny (short for Lorenzo) who greeted Jean just as warmly as his wife did, but left out the kisses. Their eldest daughter, Sofia, was four years younger than Marco. The nine year old twins, Valeria and Lucas, peppered Jean with questions about his hair and his name and why his socks were different colours. Lucia and Nina were seven year old twins, and Adrian was their youngest at two. He took the greatest shine to Jean, wrapping his body around Jean's leg and shrieking, "Diddy up!"

At the end of that night (which didn't really end until one in the morning, as Jean and Marco sat up and played Monopoly with Marco's parents; Carmen was merciless and bankrupted her husband and son within an hour, which led to a mock-standoff between her and Jean), Jean decided that Marco's family was as perfect as Marco was. In no time at all, Jean found himself spending more and more time with the Bodt family, all of whom he quickly grew to know better than his own parents.

Given Jean's closeness to Marco's family, it wasn't really a surprise when he was invited along with Marco and his father to pick out a Christmas tree on December second. He was excited, but upon arriving at the tree farm, he was totally clueless; there were different  _types_  of trees to pick from, and different heights and widths. Apparently you couldn't get just a pine tree. 

Eventually they picked one out, a beautiful seven foot tall Douglas Fir, and strapped it to the top of the Bodt family SUV. Jean watched in awe as Marco and his father set up the tree in the living room. He'd seen Christmas trees, sure, but when Lenny stood between him and Marco and put his arms around both of them and declared that "the family tree is up, boys!", he felt like he hadn't seen anything so magnificent in his life. Both sets of twins bounded into the room, followed by Sofia carrying Adrian. They spent the rest of the day decorating the tree, which culminated with Jean hefting Marco onto his shoulders to put the star in its place (there was no need, as they'd all been using a small step-stool to put the garland, lights, and ornaments on, but Valeria and Lucas were irrepressible imps and had planted the idea in Jean's head).

That weekend, Jean and Marco were in Marco's basement in front of the old wood stove, wrapped in blankets and playing a game of two-man Uno when Carmen descended the stairs carrying two bright Santa hats.

"I hope you're beating him," she said to Jean. "He mercilessly destroys all of us whenever we play." 

"He's avenging you, don't worry," Marco laughed. Jean grinned wickedly and laid down three draw two cards in a row. 

"Oh, good," Carmen mused. Without any preamble, she popped the Santa hats onto Marco and Jean's heads and sighed, "Encantador." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and tapped the screen until the camera app opened.

"Come on, boys. We have to take the family photo for the Christmas cards," she said, drawing her phone back for a better shot. "We're all getting ready upstairs." Jean smiled at Marco and set his cards down (face down, of course; Marco was a filthy cheat when he thought no one was looking). 

"I'll get your dad to show me how to use the camera so I can take your picture," he said. 

"Don't be silly, Jean. We have an ugly sweater for you, too. How can you be in the photo if you're behind the camera?" Carmen asked, her tone full of poorly concealed mirth. Jean stared at her in confusion for a split second, and then his eyes widened and his lips parted in realization. Marco wore a small smile hidden behind his hand of cards. Carmen, smiling widely, snapped a picture.

"You want  _me_  in the family picture?" Jean asked, his voice tight. Carmen lowered her phone.

"Of course we do. You are Marco's  _amado_ , his most cherished," she said gently. Jean looked over at Marco, whose cheeks flushed a light pink. Carmen knelt down beside Jean and drew him into a hug. Still someone stunned, he managed to put his arms around her in return, albeit somewhat stiffly. "You are family."

Jean drew in a shuddering breath, but could only nod in response, overwhelmed as he was. She drew back and patted his cheek, smiling in her understanding, motherly way, and stood. "Your sweaters are up on Marco's bed! They're exceptionally hideous this year, I've really outdone myself," she mused, walking back up the stairs, her fond smile never faltering.

Jean turned to Marco once his mother had disappeared. "You knew about this, didn't you?" 

"Of course I did," Marco quipped. He laughed as Jean dove at him across the cards, a bundle of tartan sherpa blanket. Jean kissed him soundly, the little slide of his tongue a promise for very good things to come later.

Jean proudly put on his first ugly Christmas sweater. His was green, and decorated with obese kittens hanging from a Christmas tree by their tails, each with little fruitcakes clutched in their paws. He nearly laughed himself silly when he saw that it said "Meowy Christmas!" in red Comic Sans font below the tree. Marco's cream coloured sweater depicted all of Santa's reindeer in some horrendous mockery of 'Dogs Playing Poker', candy canes and eggnog in place of the cigars and alcohol. While Jean admired himself in the mirror, Adrian toddled into Marco's bedroom, dressed in his own ugly sweater of dancing candy canes with bizarre little elf ears.

"Jawn!" he squealed. Jean picked him up and balanced him on his hip. 

"Whaddya think? Ugly enough for the picture?" he asked the toddler. 

"Veddy uggy!" Jean nodded sagely. Marco kissed his little brother on the top of the head, and then gave Jean a kiss on the lips that made Adrian giggle. 

"Let's all go be ugly downstairs." 

That year, recipients of the Bodt family Christmas card took special note of the young man holding the youngest child. They saw how Adrian clung to him, a timeless giggle captured on his face. They gazed fondly at Marco, for many of them had known him since boyhood, and commented that they'd never seen him look happier than now, with his arm wrapped snugly around the young man's waist. It was general consensus among the recipients that this was Marco's boyfriend, though beyond that, the man with the two-tone hair was a stranger to them. It was all agreed, however, that this Jean Kirschtein guy had the biggest smile on his face out of anyone else in the photo.

**Author's Note:**

> Marco is 20 and Jean is 19 here.
> 
> soo i had this idea months ago and i've just gotten around to writing it today. i hope you don't terribly mind the oc's for Marco's family.
> 
> it's just stupid Christmas fluff; i adore Christmas and this is the first Christmas that I won't be going home for despite still being in the country, so i'm a little sad about it and wrote this to cheer me up. So I hope it makes you all smile a little too! <3
> 
> Epilogue: Jean shamelessly uses his family's money to buy Marco's entire family really awesome Christmas gifts. Four years later, he takes them all to Spain to visit their grandparents and he proposes to Marco on the beach in Barcelona~
> 
>  
> 
> ~~someone should draw these two dorks in their ugly christmas sweaters~~


End file.
